


Knightfall

by ArcHeavyGunner



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: AU where Ahsoka never left the Jedi, AU where Rex is at the Jedi Temple during Order 66, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I blame my friend Jade for this, My First AO3 Post, Non-Canonical Character Death, One Shot, Order 66, You can all blame her too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 17:10:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7231342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArcHeavyGunner/pseuds/ArcHeavyGunner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alternate Universe where Ahsoka never left the Jedi Order<br/>Alternate Universe where Captain Rex is at the assault on the Jedi Temple during Order 66<br/>-<br/>Captain Rex received the order just like every other clone commander. The order that the Jedi were traitors. Rex was thankfully not included in the first wave of the 501st when they attacked the Jedi Temple, but now he has been called up from the reinforcement pool to join the fight. The exact opposite of what he wanted to happen. But the worst is yet to come, as his loyalty will be tested when he comes across an old friend...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knightfall

The silhouettes of the buildings flew by as the wing of gunships floated through the air. Inside their holds were reinforcements. The 501st was taking severe casualties and they needed help if there were going to win this fight. Dusk had long since passed over the urban jungle gym that the gunships now flew through. Ahead, the pilots could see a massive building, the sight of the assault, in flames. The Jedi Temple burned as a bright star while Coruscant wept.

CT-7567 knew what had gone down. He had received the transmission from the Chancellor, just the same as Commander Appo had. Rex had gathered his platoons and ordered them into their gunships. However, only he knew of the real situation. The Jedi were not the “traitors” that the Chancellor had told him they were. He went along with it, like any good soldier would. Inside his armor, though, he was screaming but could not be heard. Rex’s mind refocused to the moment at hand as the gunship’s bay doors opened, letting the warm city air rush into the cabin. He watched silently as the neon lights of the city blew past their formation.

The men were quiet. Restless. No one was saying how they were shocked, or how they felt betrayed. Not one man mentioned how horrid they felt when they learned that the Jedi, their heralds of greatness, had betrayed the Republic. Had betrayed them.

No, every soldier on his gunship kept quiet. The soldiers kept their thoughts to themselves. Rex looked at his assembled men, each prepping for the mission in their own special way. But he could not recognize his brothers. They all looked the same to him.

_‘All just clones.’_ Rex’s mind said as it grew more restless, more anxious. Rex’s eyes darted from one end of the gunship to the other, trying to find some way to escape. Something, anything, to wake him up from this nightmare.

To refocus his mind, Rex checked and double checked his blaster pistols, making sure every bolt was tight and every screw fastened. Stowing them, he reached for a carbine on the weapon rack, and again, he checked every inch of the weapon. Methodically, he fiddled with the trigger and the sights. The captain sighed, and let his gaze wander to the outside world. He watched as the other gunships flew in formation, as fire suppression vehicles sprinted past to try and douse the Temple’s flame. Rex rested his head against the door-frame and tried to keep his mind focused on the mission. It didn’t work.

As the gunships made their final approach, Rex was able to see just how badly the temple had been assaulted. Jedi, Clones, and Temple Security lay dead everywhere as the building burned with a hundred fires. The captain’s mind wandered again, looking at the destruction. For someone who was bred for war, seeing the Temple like this was… different. Unsettling. Nightmarish. _‘If only Fives were here. If only I had listened…’_ he thought to himself as the gunship began to descend.

The outside of the temple was quiet as the ship finally touched down, allowing Rex’s men to dismount. He jumped off the floating craft and, after falling about a meter, landed and scanned the area as he walked forward. Before he could react, he heard the distinct sound of a Z-6 Rotary Cannon spinning up before unleashing a hail of blue plasma. Rex turned his head first, and then his body, bring his blaster to bear on the commotion. But all he saw was someone falling. He ordered his men to stand down and spread out as he went to secure the right flank.

Rex could’ve swore he saw something move in the darkness. A figure running across from him. No, no, he was just seeing things. Something caught his eye again. Movement. Rex turned, shouldering his blaster. Suddenly, something vaulted over the low wall ahead of him. It began charging towards him, running at a breakneck pace. Rex fired his blaster once. Twice. Three times. The plasma shot through the warm air. All three blasts hit the target. The figure fell face forward into the ground. Rex, weapon still raised, walked towards his fallen foe. But something caught his eye. The person had dropped something when the died. A cylindrical object. The metal shined in the night sky as the clone bent down. Rex picked up the lightsaber, only to see it’s hilt was stained with blood. Putting the weapon down, he noticed the fallen Jedi’s Padawan braid. ‘This is going to be a long night,’ Rex thought with a sigh. Standing up, the soldier walked back towards his squad as they began to finally enter the temple and join the fray.

As the white armored soldiers filled through the doorway, Rex ordered his men to spread out with a gesture from his hand. The had entered the west side of the Temple, not that it really mattered. Their job was all the same; kill every living thing in the temple that wasn’t one of theirs. No survivors.

Rex repeated that line from his orders in his head. _‘No survivors…’_ Not once had he been given that order. Not once in the past thousand days of fighting had he been told “No survivors” by a commanding officer. But this order came from on high. From his commander. From Skywalker.

A small object, no bigger than a closed fist, arced through the air. It landed in the middle of his squad.

“Grenade!”

Rex didn’t know which of his boys called it out, but he did recognize the one who leapt on top of the metallic sphere. Furball, one of his newest soldiers, was lifted about a meter into the air as the device exploded. He landed on his back, revealing to the world his now eviscerated torso. His dark red blood glistened in the darkness of the Temple.

The captain was forced out of his daze as he heard the roar of the cannon again, along with the cacophony of the rifles. Rex followed suit, and raised his carbine, clutching the blaster as he let loose a series of bolts. Two dozen meters down the hall, a group of Temple Security had taken cover and were firing back. Their green bolts landed all around Rex’s men, scorching the ground and walls and rubble as they tried to take down the clones. Rex focused, breathed, and fired. He watched as the blast flew through the air, burning the cold night around it. It flashed when it score a hit on one of the guards. She fell to the ground, the last breath leaving her lungs.

The brother taking cover next to Rex, fell to the ground with a shudder. There was a scorch mark on what was left of the troopers helmet. How Rex wished Kix was here. But no, there were to be no medics on this mission. _‘No survivors,’_ he found himself repeating as he began firing again, making sure to hit all of his targets. The darkness of the hallway was made alight by the blue and green blaster rounds, and the fires burning in the ceiling and upper floors.

The firefight was over just as quickly as it began. Rex took count of the dead and added their names to his list. His list of fallen brothers, ever increasing in length. Fives and Echo; Tup and Hardcase; And now Furball and Tee-Kay. Rex sighed as he and his men moved on once more, further into the ziggurat of the Temple. Further into his nightmares. The sounds of screaming and fire cracking only reinforced the hell that was surrounding him.

The night wore on, and Rex became more and more distant to the world around him. He watched in horror as Tempo was bisected by a Temple Guard, it’s yellow saber flashing with blood for a split second before it burned away. He witnessed Downpour and Valentine be turned into ash by a powerful force push. He saw Daveed vaporized when a Security sniper had hit him with a disintegrator. He stared as Lighter was shredded and filled with holes as he was caught off guard by a repeating blaster. Rex grew more and more callous as he was forced to gun down innocent men. From guards to Jedi, Rex followed his orders, like a good soldier. But each time he pulled the trigger, each time a shot flew from the muzzle of his blaster, park of him cracked. Each time he saw one of his brothers die, part of him died along with them. Each time he was forced to put a Jedi down, he lost a part of him that could never be found. As the fires raged on and the casualties piled up, the endless night wore on. Before the night was over, Rex was a broken man. Nothing more than a biological machine with a gun, killing everything that didn’t look like him. But it would only get worse.

Rex walked the halls with his now shattered squad. The Jedi had put up a damn good fight, but they had lost. Now tasked with clean-up duty, he prowled the halls, looking for younglings and guards who had escaped the initial massacre. He heard the ignition of one lightsaber- no, two, and spun around. He brought his blaster to bear on the new target, only to see a young Torguta slicing away the remainder of his brother with her dual green sabers.

“Rex?” Ahsoka said as she pulled her blade from a now dead clone. Her voice trembled, barely audible over the cracking of the fires. His mind was screaming. 

_‘No. No, not this. Not like this,’_ he begged, pleaded, hoping someone was listening.

“Drop your weapons. Now.” Rex ordered, mustering all the willpower he had left to level his blaster at his friend.

“Rex, don’t do this.” The Padawan warned. Her sabers were ignited again. “I know you got your chip removed.” Her voice was barely steady as she gripped her hilts tighter. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

“I gave you an order,” Rex forced through his clenched teeth. If Ahsoka would just put down her weapons maybe, just maybe, she would be allowed to live. Maybe he could convince General Skywalker- No. Rex knew that would never be an option. Rex knew it would never work.

“Rex, please, just let me leave the temple. Don’t make me hurt you too.” The Jedi said, tears now running down her face. She entered a battle stance, knowing full well what the clone’s inability to stand down meant. Rex closed his eyes. He knew what was coming.

A shot rang out. Just one. It was followed by the sound of flesh and bone crashing to the floor, as well as two distinct metallic clinks. Ahsoka fell where she stood, defiant to the last. With tears now running down the inside of his helmet, Rex let his breath out. He said solemnly, “No survivors” as his blaster clattered to the floor. The clone staggered over to the corpse of his friend, and fell to his knees. Rex removed his helmet and threw it across the hall, enraged by what had happened that night. He cradled the lifeless head of Ahsoka and began to weep. He grabbed one of her sabers and squeezed it tight, hoping to feel Ahsoka’s warm presence just one more time, as the emotionless metal betrayed what had occurred.

A robed figure walked into the hallway. He had sensed something was wrong. The sight he saw confirmed his suspicion. Striding over to the clone, the figure’s blood boiled with hatred.

Rex heard the footsteps and jumped up, trying to collect himself. Until he realized who was coming over to him. The clone let the downed Jedi’s saber fall from his hands, clattering to the floor. A blue lightsaber was ignited as Anakin removed his robe, his eyes distorted with pain and fury.

“What is this Rex.” Anakin growled, gripping his saber tighter. He scowled further, spitting out the word ‘Rex’ like it tasted disgusting in his mouth.

“General, this isn’t right. I know this isn’t right!” Rex responded, as he gestured to the now dead padawan. The clone captain was sweating, the circles around his eyes showing fatigue and excruciating pain.

“You have orders, and you follow them. That’s what’s right!”

“Not when the orders are to kill innocent people!” The men’s voices boomed through the halls, almost shaking the temple as they argued.

“Do not question my orders, ever! Don’t ever question me, CT-7567!” Anakin roared, causing some debris to fall over as the force-imbued yell shook Rex to his very core.

“Look at what your ‘orders’ did! ” Rex yelled back, praying that he if he could just snap the general out of his fury, all would be set right. “Anakin, don’t you see what’s happened! Ahsoka’s dead!” But when Skywalker only grimaced harder, Rex knew that his friend was gone. And he knew how this would end.

“Say one more thing, clone, and I will end you. Personally.” Anakin said, now quiet as he force pulled at the trooper’s armor and forced the clone onto his knees, beneath his looming figure. Rex inhaled, and stared at the Jedi poisoned by rage. Rex looked at Anakin with both defiance and defeat.

“No survivors.”

For a moment, all was still. Rex held his breath, and watched as a piece of rubble floated down and around the black robed figure, before being extinguished by the humming blue saber.

Anakin let out a roar as he force pushed Rex into the wall, causing the stone to crack and break. Skywalker then let out force wave after force wave, slamming Rex further and further into the wall, crushing and grinding the troopers bones into dust and fragments. The enraged, fallen Jedi then pulled the now broken captain onto his ignited blade, impaling him through the stomach. Rex, as his vision blurred and his muscle and skin burned, looked into Anakin’s eyes once more and forced out, “No… survivors”; Anakin pulled the broken body off of his saber, only to begin force choking the clone. Rex, broken and beaten, looked the Sith directly in the eyes. The soldier didn’t recognize who he saw.

A blur of blue would be the last thing Rex’s eyes caught. Anakin, enraged by the insolent traitor of a soldier, swiped his lightsaber around in an arc and beheaded his old friend with little effort. Rex’s body collapsed to the floor into a heap, his armor clattering against itself and the ruined temple-turned-grave. As Anakin walked away, he bumped into the deceased clone’s helmet. Without a second thought, Skywalker crushed the helmet with pure force rage with nothing more than closing his hand. That was the last noise the hallway would see, as the fires had ended and the sun had begun to rise on the massacre. Anakin would make sure that no one would know of the death of his padawan and his captain. For even he could not bear the thought of what he had done. Two names to start the list of those killed by his passion, soon to be followed by his lover and his brother.


End file.
